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Sunday, February 28, 2016

In lieu of the book signing events happening on March, I bought some books. Haha! Now, I still have my big TBR pile. I know. But folks! Victoria Aveyard and Sarah J. Maas will be coming to the Philippines! I cannot, for the life of me, just let these events pass by.

Thus, my haul post today. I have yet to buy two more books of Sarah, but I'll probably do it some time in March (patiently waiting for payday). :)

Friday, February 19, 2016

How's your February so far? Mine's going a bit too fast. But all is going well.

Welcome to another BTaF post. For this post, I'd like to talk about owning multiple copies of books.

I've watched a lot of bookshelf tours on YouTube and it seems like owning two, three or four copies of a certain book is normal. And who could blame them really? If they love the book, have the money and the shelf space, that's acceptable I think. Not to mention those beautiful collector's editions.

Personally though, I cannot bring myself to own more than one copy. My dilemma came from the Sarah J. Maas book signing event. Haha! I already own the fist book in US cover, and US edition covers are what I really want to have. But National Book Store (the organizer of the event) only sells the UK edition. :( Now I'll have to buy the UK edition, and just sell the one I already have. I don't want to buy both editions as I think it would be a waste of money. (I'm not rich, folks. Haha!)

So there, how about you folks? Do you buy/own more than one copy of a certain book?

Christopher John Francis Boone knows all the countries of the world and their capitals and every prime number up to 7,057. He relates well to animals but has no understanding of human emotions. He cannot stand to be touched. And he detests the color yellow.

Although gifted with a superbly logical brain, for fifteen-year-old Christopher everyday interactions and admonishments have little meaning. He lives on patterns, rules, and a diagram kept in his pocket. Then one day, a neighbor's dog, Wellington, is killed and his carefully constructive universe is threatened. Christopher sets out to solve the murder in the style of his favourite (logical) detective, Sherlock Holmes. What follows makes for a novel that is funny, poignant and fascinating in its portrayal of a person whose curse and blessing are a mind that perceives the world entirely literally.

Plot

A short, simple yet poignant read, looking into the mind of a 15-year-old who has Asperger's syndrome.

The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time is a unique read for me. I have read a book with an Asperger patient in it (Dear John by Nicholas Sparks) but I haven't read anything where he/she is the main character/narrator.

Christopher deals with things in a very rational, literal way and does not relate to people very well. Going out of his boundaries and diverting from his routine is very unusual, if not happening at all. So when he discovered Wellington's body, he set his foot off his usual course to solve a murder mystery.

It was quite a refreshing read. The mundane tasks were given new light by looking at them in Christopher's eyes. It's an eye-opening reading experience and interesting to see in Christopher's perspective. I liked the progression of events and how they are all connected leading to Christopher's adventure. While reading, I was eager to know who killed Wellington, and later on, to know how things will turn out for Christopher and his family.

The story has an open ending, but I liked that it gives hope of resolution for Christopher's relationship and future. The hanging threads were also somehow tied in the end. It may not be a concrete happy ending but it's a positive one.

Characters

Christopher is an interesting character. If one does not know that he has Asperger's syndrome, I don't think he'll be likeable to them. Having a very logical mind can be challenging for the people around him and for him. But I liked how Christopher made an effort to change his routine and get out there to reach a certain goal.

He may not be relatable but I was able to understand some of his points not because of his Asperger's syndrome but because logically, he does make sense. [But personally, EQ is as important as IQ.]

As for the secondary characters, I don't think I like them at all. Haha! They're not perfect, I know. And they do what they think is the best for Christopher. But cheating is cheating, and lying is lying.

In general, I think the characters are all well-written. They are all three-dimensional, reflecting the different nature of a person given a certain circumstance.

Writing

The style of writing of the author is okay. I was not 100% amazed by it, but I still liked it nevertheless. Written in a first-person perspective, in Christopher's POV, I was able to see things in Christopher's eyes, and experience things from his perspective. What I especially liked is the way The Curious Incident is presented as the book written by Christopher. I think it's a unique way of story-telling and I have never read anything like it before.

I also liked the inclusion of some historical events and scientific facts, stated in an FYI manner. There were some points I was not able to understand and some mathematical problems I was very clueless about, but otherwise, it was easy to follow Christopher's story.

-o-

Overall, The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time is an enjoyable read. What Christopher's story reminded me was that sometimes, it only takes one step out of our comfort zone to experience more things, things that we thought we can never do, but we actually can. If only we get over the limit of ourselves...

Mark Haddon is a British novelist and poet, best known for his 2003 novel The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time. He was educated at Uppingham School and Merton College, Oxford, where he studied English.

In 2003, Haddon won the Whitbread Book of the Year Award and in 2004, the Commonwealth Writers' Prize Overall Best First Book for his novel The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time, a book which is written from the perspective of a boy with Aspergers syndrome. Haddon's knowledge of Aspergers syndrome, a type of autism, comes from his work with autistic people as a young man.[1] In an interview at Powells.com, Haddon claimed that this was the first book that he wrote intentionally for an adult audience; he was surprised when his publisher suggested marketing it to both adult and child audiences. His second adult-novel, A Spot of Bother, was published in September 2006.

Mark Haddon is also known for his series of Agent Z books, one of which, Agent Z and the Penguin from Mars, was made into a 1996 Children's BBC sitcom. He also wrote the screenplay for the BBC television adaptation of Raymond Briggs's story Fungus the Bogeyman, screened on BBC1 in 2004. He also wrote the 2007 BBC television drama Coming Down the Mountain.

Mark Haddon lives in Oxford with his wife Dr. Sos Eltis, a Fellow of Brasenose College, Oxford, and their two young sons. (Source: Goodreads)

Tuesday, February 9, 2016

Yep, another book signing event sponsored by National Book Store! And the author will be Sarah J. Maas!!!

I haven't read any of her books but I'm dying to! I've heard good reviews about them. And now that she's coming to the Philippines, her books will be on my priority list. That is, after I buy them all. -_-

March, my birthday month, will be a fun one! I just don't know if my bank account will agree. Haha!

After the 1st wave, only darkness remains. After the 2nd, only the lucky escape. And after the 3rd, only the unlucky survive. After the 4th wave, only one rule applies: trust no one.

Now, it's the dawn of the 5th wave, and on a lonely stretch of highway, Cassie runs from Them. The beings who only look human, who roam the countryside killing anyone they see. Who have scattered Earth's last survivors. To stay alone is to stay alive, Cassie believes, until she meets Evan Walker. Beguiling and mysterious, Evan Walker may be Cassie's only hope for rescuing her brother--or even saving herself. But Cassie must choose: between trust and despair, between defiance and surrender, between life and death. To give up or to get up.

A gripping, thrilling read. I've been hearing a lot of good reviews about The 5th Wave but never had the chance to read it until recently.

Wednesday, February 3, 2016

Happy February! How are your reading challenges? Mine's pretty good, slow but good. Haha! :)
I'm not quite sure what I'll be reading this month. But I do know that I'll be reading Red Queen and Glass Sword because Victoria Aveyard will be coming on March 6! Yey!

I still don't have copies, and I know I'm on a ban. But folks, she's coming to the Philippines!

Aside from those, I'll be finishing The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time by Mark Haddon, then, probably some contemporaries or non-fiction? Again, I don't know. Haha!

For e-ARC, I'm planning to read:

Adulthood is a Myth: A "Sarah's Scribbles" Collection by Sarah Andersen

I got this through NetGalley. Thanks to Andrews McMeel Publishing!
I requested this because the title got me. Haha! Going through adulthood with blind eyes, I think I'll be able to relate with this book. :)

-o-

Well, I may not have someone to celebrate Valentine's with, but who cares? I got books to date. Haha!

Monday, February 1, 2016

How was your first month of 2016? I hope it's all good and full of bookish stuff. As for me, I have been busy (still) but I managed to read books (yey!) and published their reviews among a few other blog posts. Now, on to my monthly recap...

For my monthly reading list (Pile Be Gone #3), I set 5 books to read. I only read 4, but that's good enough. The 4th book, is quite a chunk (The 5th Wave by Rick Yancey). Also, I'm currently reading the 5th book, The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time. :)